KISHORA’s Abby Christopher attempts to make a pass around defender Rachelle Carpenter of the Souris Spartans. The action took place in a P.E.I. School Athletic Association Senior A Girls Soccer League semifinal game at Queen Elizabeth Elementary School in Kensington on Wednesday. KISHORA won 4-1.
The team featuring players from Kensington Intermediate-Senior High School (KISH) and Kinkora Regional High School (KRHS) defeated the Souris Spartans 4-1 in a semifinal game on Wednesday.
“We’ve been undefeated all year, and to lose would have been really hard,” said KISHORA rookie Abby Christopher of Kensington.
KISHORA, which is 7-0 (won-lost) this season, will face the winner of the Montague/Charlottetown Rural semifinal in the P.E.I. School Athletic Association Senior A Girls Soccer League championship game at the Terry Fox Complex in Cornwall on Saturday at 10 a.m.
Conditions
The conditions at the Queen Elizabeth Elementary School pitch were far from ideal – wet, windy and cold.
“We played well considering the conditions,” assessed KISHORA senior Rachel Green of Kinkora. “We like to play the field, and capitalize with the ball over the top.
“In the first half, we were able to do that, but in the second half it was hard going against the wind.”
When asked what adjustments players make in these conditions, Green replied: “You play it safer, and do not put as many in the air. It’s real slippery, and if you slide and take yourself out of the play it could cost your team a goal.”
Early lead
Christopher, who KISHORA head coach Donald Mulligan describes as the team’s “catalyst and spark plug,” opened the scoring nine minutes into the game, picking the lower left-hand corner.
“The ball was passed to me at the front of the box, I went around a defender and shot it with my left foot,” said Christopher, who admitted she normally kicks with her right foot.
Alexis Mulligan scored from the top of the 18-yard box in the 36th minute to send KISHORA into halftime up 2-0.
“You shouldn’t miss from there,” added the Grade 12 student at KRHS.
Back in game
Emma Dixon’s goal in the 57th minute got Souris back in the game, but Green capitalized on a penalty kick in the 75th minute, and Shannan Hill closed out the scoring in the 90th minute.
“We played good, but kind of had a lapse in the second half, but came back and scored a couple of timely goals late,” assessed Alexis Mulligan.
Green credited Hill’s efforts for drawing the foul resulting in the penalty kick.
“The conditions were not great, so I just calmed myself down and hit it in the bottom right-hand corner,” said Green.
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